An Unexpected Contact
by BonesBird
Summary: Erika needs to relay the news of her oddest first contact to Jon, and finds her plan of teasing him backfiring slightly.


**And another one moved over from AO3. Set in the roleplay universe in 2159.**

**Sorry for randomly disappearing off of (and AO3) over the last 20 days or so. I've had 3 weeks of either working or hospital appointments, so by the time I got home I was happy to be curled up in front of my laptop with Enterprise and a box of flapjacks. ANYWAY. I'm dedicating the posting of this oneshot to _Amelia Elizabeth_. Just because I can.**

**Shin xx**

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Sometimes there were calls she absolutely dreaded making, often for various different reasons. She could be pissing off the brass or she could be pissing off Jonathan or any combination of the above. Or it could be like tonight. Tonight she would be calling Jon, and he was either going to take offence or, more likely, laugh.

It had been billed as one of the rarer duties she had to perform these days, a first contact with a relatively new race. At least, they were new to Humans and Vulcans. A tribal society, but united by warp technology much like Earth had been. She'd looked forward to this mission in the midst of the war, and in the long run it would have been something that she could keep in her hat. But what had happened, well. It was certainly going to make her husband of almost 3 years laugh.

So as she waited for the call to connect, she thought through exactly how she was going to word this news. Because a lot of the reaction would be dealt with her delivery. She took a deep breath and shook her head before she heard the tell-tale sound of the connection being made, Jonathan's smiling face filling her screen. She grinned back, and found herself still searching for words to start this conversation. It seemed that Jon picked up on that much, and looked her over before speaking.

"I wasn't expecting to hear from you this early, Rike?" He grinned, nodding gently at her. "I still expected you to be dancing with the diplomats."

"Oh, the dancing ended early for me, they have preferred Veronica for that." She smiled and shook her head at the slightly worried expression that flashed across his face. "It's the middle of the night down there, so we returned to the ship, and I wrote my report for Starfleet. I wanted to give you a heads up on it." She smiled mischievously, and tried not to burst out laughing at the look of concern for his wife's career that Jon took on. She had seen that expression far too often.

"What did you do, Erika?" He asked after a moment, and she suddenly felt a little insulted that his thought had been that she might have done something to endanger herself or her career, she had learnt some things from him after all.

"I didn't do anything!" She defended, holding her hands up and shaking her head. "There was a misunderstanding on the planet when we first landed." She mentally told herself not to smile, even though the story was a touch embarrassing. She needed to take it seriously, which was hard, especially considering things had been worked out. "It seems that it's customary for the proconsul to propose a joining to the leaders of a possible ally."

"What are you telling me Erika?" Jon asked, a weary look on his face. Again she had to fight with herself about smiling. Knowing that it would give the whole game away if she did.

"The proconsul asked me to be his wife."

The howling laughter told her that was the last thing Jon had expected to hear, and it amused her no end that he had looked so worried up until that moment. Though, maybe she was just a little annoyed that he was laughing quite so hard. "I hope you told him you were already someone's wife?" He asked once he'd brought his breathing back under control. Still red-faced from his laughter.

"Well, I did. But I'm debating that decision now." She huffed, trying to convince him she was annoyed by his reaction, and she was, a little bit. Not really enough to be angry with him, but it was always fun to keep him on his toes, and there was no better way to do that than to remind him that sometimes he could be an insensitive ass.

"Hey, come on. It is funny." He defended a minute later, after once again controlling his laughter.

She decided that it was better for now to continue pretending to be annoyed than to admit she found it equally as hilarious. That might wait until they were in person again for their anniversary in a few weeks. "Could you not even pretend to be jealous?"

"Why, you married me?" He said, and at that she couldn't help but crack a smile. He knew her far too well. Maybe that was why he never fell for this. "So how did this all end?" He continued, still chuckling a little, but obviously trying to control his laughter.

"Well, Veronica and the rest of my crew agreed the veracity of my claims, and sharing our wedding album helped." She smiled, looking above her to one of their photos from their wedding, her favourite one, and the one that had convinced those on the planet below that she was legitimately married.

"I'm glad the staff backed you up." Jon muttered snickering again. If they had been together she probably would have poked him in the side at that point, instead she wondered what had caused him to start chuckling again.

"What!?" She asked after a minute of nothing being said, Jon just chuckling.

"It's just funny." He said before bursting into full chuckles. She glared at him through the screen, wondering if he was even buying her being annoyed a little anymore.

"Keep laughing mister, and you'll have a very cold bed this Christmas." She growled, that was definitely an empty threat, and they both knew it. While there were a lot of things that she would do to punish Jon, leaving him alone for their anniversary was not going to be one of them. Apparently she made it look more realistic than she thought.

"You love it really." Jon muttered, giving her the look she often described as his 'puppy dog' look, one that she could never really say no too. Instead she rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Yeah, yeah."

After another moment of just looking at her, Jon clearly felt he needed to clarify something, and fixed her with a serious look. "And the reason I'm never jealous is because we've been together for 19 years on and off. If we've lasted that long you've clearly learnt to put up with me." He said, and she had to admit he had the point there, not that they had really been 'together' for most of that time. It was always complicated to try to qualify, maybe she should stop trying.

"Well, you talked yourself out of the other details, so you'll have to read the report. Now I am going to bed, the talks begin in the morning." She said, sticking her tongue out at him in a rather childish display of teasing.

"I love you, behave."

"I will if you will."

"Low blow Hernandez." He grimaced a little before smiling at her again, and he knew that the joke was her way of telling him that she knew he wasn't serious about any of it, and that if it was something serious he would have been more worried.

"Goodnight." She grinned closing off the channel, wondering how red in the face Jon would go when he actually read the report. She was certain that he would never have expected quite so much detail of their relationship be made public. But it was a means to an end, and after his reaction; he deserved it all.


End file.
